Kaiser Wilhelm II by John Van der Kiste

Author:John Van der Kiste
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752499284
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-07-20T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The Quill and the Sword

Kaiser Wilhelm II had rightly seen in Joseph Chamberlain the British government’s main proponent of an Anglo-German alliance. While Chamberlain’s speech of December 1901 hardly made him a ‘dangerous and implacable foe’ of Germany, it was evident that his sympathies no longer lay with Berlin. Bülow saw an opportunity for strengthening his popularity among the Anglophobes in Berlin, and demanded an apology for the speech, but despite requests from Metternich none was forthcoming on the grounds that no insult had been intended. King Edward had proposed to send his son and heir George, Duke of York, to Berlin for the Kaiser’s birthday, but he was so incensed by constant personal attacks on himself in Germany and violent anti-British speeches in the Reichstag that he threatened to cancel the visit. The Kaiser ignored his letter and the King’s ministers persuaded him not to imperil relations between both countries; the Duke accordingly went to Germany, and on his departure the Kaiser telegraphed to the King that they were ‘very sorry to have to part so soon from a merry and genial guest’.1

This was more than could be said for the Kaiser’s eldest son and heir. Crown Prince Wilhelm, now aged nineteen, paid a private visit to England soon afterwards. From an early age he had shown signs of becoming a compulsive womanizer, and while staying at Blenheim Palace he had an affair with an eighteen-year-old American, Gladys Deacon. It did not escape the notice of the European press, and one paper said he had given her a valuable ring, his confirmation present from Queen Victoria. Furious with his son, the Kaiser thundered that the example of his decadent ‘uncle Bertie’ was solely responsible for his transgression. He refused to let the Crown Prince represent him at the King’s coronation in June, and sent his brother and sister-in-law Henry and Irene instead. As they were more popular with their English relations than the touchy Kaiser and Anglophobic Empress it was a wise choice, though soon after they arrived they were involved in a petty argument over precedence in a carriage ride for a reception at Buckingham Palace. Waldersee, representing the German army, had been allocated a coach behind the Prince and Princess, but flatly refused to go last. The situation was only retrieved when the easy-going Prince Henry declared that it did not matter to him who went first.

The coronation was postponed from June to August after the King was suddenly taken ill with appendicitis. At once family considerations rose to the fore; genuinely concerned, the Kaiser asked the embassy in Berlin to keep him informed as to his uncle’s condition. His relief at hearing of the successful operation was heartfelt. Even so, during the King’s convalescence prior to the postponed ceremony taking place, the Kaiser’s careless talk almost caused a diplomatic incident. In July an American-owned yacht cruising off Norway put in at a harbour where the Hohenzollern was moored, with the Kaiser on board. He visited

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